Tagged: 1922

I got a stumper for you today. Well, probably not for YOU, but for me, because I didn’t get a chance to ask The Dad about this one. Here is a photo from Stubby’s archives. Unfortunately, we’re losing the image to the ages.

Bluefield vs. Bramwell. Click photo to zoom.

From what I can tell, it is a photo of a baseball game with the catcher and batter at home plate. The crowd is behind them and baseball bats on in the foreground. But Stubby’s caption reads fine: “Bluefield vs. Bramwell – Glenwood Park, Aug. 1922. Bluefield easy winners over League winners – Walters, at bay.”

I wanted to share this one because this game was played 90 years ago this month. But the stumper is the dates. According the Bluefield Blue Jays website, the Blue-Grays (a precursor to the Blue Jays) were formed in 1924, two years later than this game was played. I’m confident Stubby got the year right, so I’m guessing games were being played before the League was formally formed. The town of Bramwell also lists 1924 as the start of the Coalfield Baseball League:

Interesting Fact: In 1924 “The Coalfield Baseball League.” consisted of four teams in the league including the Bluefield “Blue Grays,” the Gary “Coal Diggers,” the Pocahontas-Bramwell “Indians” and the Coalwood “Robins.”

So we’re back after our summer break and as promised, we got some sports memories on tap.

Helmets! We don’t need no stinkin’ helmets! Stubby is in the top row, far right. Click the photo to zoom.

Here is a photos from what I believe is the 1922 Morris Harvey College (later renamed the University of Charleston) football team from Barboursville, West Virginia. Stubby was not a player but was a coach or manager. The Dad points out that the ole Stub Man had colored his outfit in black ink because he was embarrassed by his duds.

All covered in ink!

That sounded like a challenge. So I dug around and found an undoctored version of the same photo.

A bow tie revealed!

I have some other documentation to go through to match up who is who in this team photo. Stay tuned!